what happens when someone else is using a trademark? In the process of trademark registration, if the other party can provide evidence that it has been used, or that it has been used before, your trademark may be in danger of being invalid. Trademark Law Article 31 An application for trademark registration shall not damage the existing prior rights of others, nor shall it preempt the registration of a trademark that has been used by others and has certain influence by unfair means. The meaning of the word registered trademark has gone through two stages of development. In the first stage, the object of trademark registration is basically limited to unregistered trademarks; At present, the connotation of trademark cybersquatting has been further expanded, and it is also cybersquatting to apply for registration of trademarks or well-known trademarks that others have known to the public on non-similar goods or services. Furthermore, the act of applying for registration of other people's innovative design, design patent, enterprise name and font size, copyright and other prior rights as trademarks should also be regarded as trademark squatting. There are two kinds of cybersquatting: narrow cybersquatting and broad cybersquatting. The narrow cybersquatting refers to the competitive behavior of registering a trademark before the original trademark owner to obtain economic benefits. Forms of registered trademark registration (1) registered unregistered trademarks registered in China's trademark laws and regulations: if two or more applicants for trademark registration apply for registration with the same or similar trademarks on the same commodity or similar commodities, the trademark that applied earlier shall be preliminarily examined and announced, and the application of others shall be rejected without announcement. If there is no objection or the objection is not established within 3 months of the announcement period, the registration shall be approved. The trademark law of China does not give any exclusive right to unregistered trademark users. In the case that a trademark is used without registration, the trademark user has no right to prevent others from using the same or similar trademark on the same commodity, service or similar commodity or service or to apply for registration first. Only when the users and users of unregistered trademarks apply for registration on the same day, according to the current situation of trademark use and application for registration in China, the applicants who used earlier will be taken care of so that they can be registered. This scope is limited, it cannot restrict others from applying for registration, and it must not violate the principle of applying first. It is the right of the unregistered trademark user to choose not to apply for registration of the trademark he uses; If he did a lot of advertising for the unregistered trademark he used but didn't apply for it, or applied for trademark registration on the same or similar goods or services later than others, as a result, others applied for trademark registration first, which can only show that: 1. Independent decision led him to pay attention to one thing and lose sight of another; 2. The consciousness of trademark rights is weak. Of course, this can't provide him with legal protection. In countries where the exclusive right to use a trademark is registered, as long as the business entity has a strong sense of trademark rights and applies for trademark registration before or at the same time of using the trademark, there will be no preemptive registration of the trademark. The view that all the acts of preempting the registration of trademarks are illegal is essentially to advocate the use of the right to exclusive use of trademarks, thus fundamentally denying the system of exclusive use of trademarks by registration, which is contrary to the Trademark Law of China. China Trademark Law Article 32 An application for trademark registration shall not damage the existing prior rights of others, nor shall it preempt the registration of a trademark that has been used by others and has certain influence by unfair means. Therefore, it is conditionally confirmed that the act of preempting the registration of trademarks used by others first is prohibited by law. While adhering to the principles of registration and application first, the law has made reasonable adjustments to the absolute principle of application first. It is emphasized that the application must be based on the principle of good faith first, and it is not allowed to steal the trademarks that others have used and have established reputation as their own trademarks to apply for registration, which makes up for the defects of the absolute registration principle and prevents the occurrence of unfair situations in fact. (2) The registered trademark right of registered trademark registration is a right determined by national laws. However, due to geographical and time constraints, a trademark is protected in one or several specific countries or regions, but it cannot be protected in countries or regions other than the registered country or region. This may cause Party A to register trademark A in B goods or services in country C. If Party A fails to register the same application in country D, there may be a case where Party B applies for registration of trademark A or a trademark similar to trademark A in B goods or services or applies for registration in country D before Party A and gets approval. Although this kind of preemptive trademark registration seems to be morally debatable, there is nothing wrong with the registration in law. In the past, due to the relatively weak trademark awareness of China operators, the trademarks owned by them in China and having a certain or good reputation in some countries and regions were pre-registered by others in that country or region, which led to the inability of Chinese operators to use the original trademarks registered in China in that country or region and eventually withdrew from the market in that country or region; Or although the trademark continues to be used and occupies the market, it pays a high price to obtain the other party's transfer of trademark ownership; Others have to start a new "stove". I have suffered losses in economic interests, but I can't do anything about it legally. However, with the development of China's market economy, it is becoming more and more common for some domestic enterprises and individuals to register foreign well-known trademarks first in China in order to seek economic benefits. (III) The registered well-known trademark is more complicated than the unregistered trademark and registered non-well-known trademark. After a well-known trademark is registered by others in another country or region, whether the exclusive right to use the trademark of the original owner of the well-known trademark can be protected in that country or region ultimately depends entirely on the determination of the competent authority of the country or region requested for protection according to its own laws. If the preemptive registration of others is justified, the original trademark owner will lose the ownership of the trademark within his jurisdiction and cannot be protected; On the other hand, if you think that the registration is improper, you can get protection. (IV) Conflict of Rights To solve the conflict of rights of different types of intellectual property rights, the existing law has a basic principle, that is, the principle of protecting prior rights. This principle is the embodiment of the principle of fairness and good faith in civil law, and has specific provisions in patent law and trademark law. Judging from the current laws, regulations and rules, the rights and obligations arising from patent rights and trademark rights are regulated by different laws, and there is no distinction between those who are higher and those who are lower, and those who are stronger and weaker. If there is a conflict of rights, the principle of protecting prior rights will apply. To sum up, for us, the trademark used by others must not be registered. If the registration is successful, others will also use legal means to protect themselves, and the brand of others may be the most clear to the parties. As long as the evidence is produced, we will not only be able to sell this product, but also compensate all the losses of the parties.